We Are the Backbone of Society and We Deserve to Walk in the World With Confidence By Muhdina Guiamel

I have been a domestic worker for more than ten years, beginning my journey in November 2013. Over that decade and more, I have watched homes run because of the work of people like me. I have seen what happens when a worker is present, consistent, and skilled, and I have come to a conclusion that I state without hesitation. Domestic workers are the backbone of society, and we deserve rights.

That word, backbone, is not chosen carelessly. A backbone holds everything upright. Without it, structure collapses. I am making the claim, backed by more than a decade of experience, that the same is true of the domestic work sector. Remove the workers who keep households running, who care for children and elderly relatives, who give families the freedom to go out and build their professional lives, and the entire structure shifts.

I draw my strength from my family, my faith, my fellow domestic workers, my knowledge of my rights, and my hope for a better future. On the hardest days, prayer is my steadying force. And through all of it, I carry a moderate but persistent hope that things will improve, because I know how far there is still to go.

What I want the world to know is that I have dignity and rights. I say this to employers, to governments, and to young people with equal directness, because all of them need to hear it, and all of them have a role to play in making it real.

I believe all four of VODW's core campaigns must succeed. The right to change employer without restrictions. The right to renew the Overseas Domestic Worker Visa. The right to stay and settle in this country. And the right to apply for British Citizenship. I consider all of them life-changing, without exception. The loss I identify as most damaging is the inability to renew the visa, and I rate the urgency of restoring pre-2012 rights at the absolute maximum.

The government, in my assessment, is doing very little to protect the rights of migrant domestic workers. That is a clear statement about the gap between what is needed and what is being delivered. The law has not kept pace with the reality of our contributions, and I have been watching that gap from a front-row seat for more than a decade.

I spend two hours each week worrying about my job and visa situation. What I want instead is to face the world with confidence. Those are my words, and they say everything. A person who walks into work confident that her rights are protected is a person who can do her job better, contribute more fully, and live with the kind of peace of mind that every worker deserves.

VODW works to make that confidence available to every domestic worker, not as a feeling to be cultivated individually, but as a structural reality supported by law. My voice, clear and grounded in more than ten years of lived experience, is one of the strongest reasons why that work must continue.

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